Proofread Your Way To Error-Free Blog Posts

There’s nothing worse than hitting the ‘publish’ button on a blog post and realizing that you’ve made a glaring error. It’s much the same when you write a tweet or a status update, where your only option is to delete it and start again. With most blogs, you can go back and edit, but posts are propagated so quickly now that your error could be circulating in cyberspace before you have time to correct it. The solution? Effective proofreading.

Proofreading – What’s Involved?

There’s much more to proofreading than letting your blog editing program or Microsoft Word put squiggly lines under anything questionable. Anyone who’s used Word regularly knows that its spelling dictionary is limited and some of its grammatical ‘rules’ are questionable. (Or is that just me?)

Why You Can’t Rely On The Spell Checker

When checking copy in Word, it sometimes throws up anomalies. An example is failing to understand collective nouns and thinking that the subject-verb agreement is incorrect. In addition, the program can easily be fooled by homonyms, which are words that sound the same but are spelled differently. Any software program without a grammar checker (which is most of them) won’t be able to tell that you wrote ‘their’ when you meant ‘there’ or ‘they’re’ – and you can see how that might cause problems.

Ready, Set, Proofread!

So, what can you do to make sure that your blog posts are error-free? Do your proofreading the old fashioned way. You need to proofread in a place where you can concentrate – the quieter the better.

The Value of Print

Over the years, I’ve learned to proofread on screen, and this works well for short posts. For longer posts, though, I find I’m more likely to catch all the errors if I print them out. Whether you’re reading on screen or on paper, it’s a good idea to check contractions, punctuation and numbers – a missing (or extra) zero makes a big difference to a quoted figure.

Improving Proofreading Success

There are also techniques you can use to improve your success rate. These include:

reading your post aloud

using software to read it back to you

pointing to the words you are reading so you focus on them properly; or

covering up everything but the line you are reading. This also helps you to focus.

An Unusual Tip

One of the strangest tips I’ve seen is to read the post backwards. This helps you to focus on every word, though it won’t necessarily help you identify problems with meaning – and that’s another important aspect of proofreading. Successful proofreading is not just about avoiding spelling and grammatical errors, but about making sure that your post makes sense and reads well. That’s a less tangible factor, but this is one time when it’s good to get a second opinion. Get a friend to read your post and flag anything that is unclear.

And here’s a bonus tip for all the copywriters out there: according to my sister, a marketing copywriter extraordinaire, reading or viewing writing upside down will help reveal anomalies in layout. 🙂

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About The Author

Sharon Hurley Hall is a professional writer and blogger. Her career has spanned more than 25 years, including stints as a journalist, academic writer and ghost writer. Connect with Sharon on her website or Google+.

I'm not sure reading your blog post backwards is necessary, but certainly do read it slower. Take your time… you'd be surprised by the spelling and grammar errors you spot when you listen carefully to how the words sound to your ear. Thanks for the tips.
My recent post Best Proofreading Service Online

Imagine losing business because your content contained spelling or grammar mistakes. No matter whether it is a business plan, an executive summary, or a brochure, it is vitally important that you take proofreading seriously so that your English is clear, concise and error-free. What you need to do is proofread your content to ensure that it is free from errors that may potentially lose your company valuable business.

The tip about reading your post backwards is highly recommended — I use it whenever I proofread my articles and blog posts. It really makes the writer focus on what is written word for word. Definitely a great tip.

Really useful advice. Many people assume that because blogging is an informal method of communicating with customers they don't need to worry about their grammar and vocabulary. This simply isn't true. Proofreading your blog posts is just as important as proofreading your formal communications.

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